Gavin’s Surgery

Friday, June 6th, Gavin had his vein embolization surgery.  We had to get up at 1:30am to be on the road by 2:30.  Thankfully, Gavin slept most of the way there and the trip went smoothly.  We got checked in and met with what seemed like a million people.  My mom wasn’t able to come back, but we met her in the waiting area after.  Originally the plan was to coil off the top of the vein, foam the rest off, and it all be done in an hour.  However, nothing ever goes according to the plan! 

The procedure took over 3 hours and they ended up putting 15 coils made of nitocin in his leg!  They kept giving us updates, but I wasn’t overly worried until the end.  I just wanted it done!  When the surgeon came out, he kept saying, “that was a lot of vein!”  He was so wrapped up in the vein, he forgot to check to see if he could see anything with the anal bleeding.  He went back to do a quick look before his next procedure.  He couldn’t see anything and thought the scope was needed.

After the procedure was a bit rough for Gavin…vomitting, peeing down my leg, and a lot of pain.  Once we were in the room and settled a tad, Brian left.  He had to pick up the girls and spend some time with them.  The first day was a bit rough.  We were on the cancer floor because that is where there was room for us.  Hard to complain about Gavin’s issues when there are families dealing with that!  Gavin was in pain and would scream out randomly.  He had to wear a diaper at first and he wasn’t a fan and getting him to pee turned out to be a problem.

However, the kid is a trooper!  He would complain to me and my mom (who stayed with us), but when the nurses and doctors would come in, he would say he was good.  I finally convinced him to not be so tough and tell them the truth.  Gavin’s leg was in the compression sock for 24 hours and his leg and foot were so swollen and he ended up having a huge blister on his heel that was causing a lot of the pain. 

We kept Gavin busy with a bag of treats and toys we brought, some movies and books.  On Saturday, he finally decided he could walk and it was hard to slow him down!  He was able to go to the playroom across the hall.  We also had visitors!  Aunt Annie, Uncle Charles, and Andre came!  The doctors and nurses all thought he was adorable, but weren’t exactly sure how to take care of him.  His syndrome is so rare and this procedure is rarely, if ever, done on 4 year olds.  Once we were cleared to leave, we had an easy ride home.  Gavin slept!